Just as they’ve done plenty of times since 2009, New York Yankees fans celebrated a victory upon leaving the new Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
Those same fans also got to tell their friends, family, and ticket brokers they saw history—and it had nothing to do with Aaron Judge’s latest home run.
The Yankees announced a crowd of 38,090 midway through Tuesday’s 12-3 win over the San Diego Padres. Additionally, the Yankees revealed they officially crossed 50 million fans in the stadium’s 17 seasons.
Yankees announce they’ve hit the 50 million fan mark at the current Yankee Stadium (2009-present): pic.twitter.com/rRqiDd9TLT
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) May 7, 2025
Of course, the Yankees likely would have hit that total much earlier without the pandemic. The Yankees played in an empty stadium during the shortened 2020 season and only allowed 20% capacity to begin the 2021 campaign.
Yankee Stadium returned to full capacity in June 2021. By that point, fans no longer needed to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test or COVID vaccination to enter the ballpark and buy an overpriced hot dog.
Fans have seen some of the sport’s top players don the pinstripes in that time. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera closed their careers in the new stadium, and Judge crushed a home run in his first Yankee Stadium at-bat.
Former ace CC Sabathia will enter the Hall of Fame this summer. Ex-teammates and longtime MLB outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones are on track to join him in Cooperstown.
Unfortunately for Yankees fans, they’ve only seen a single World Series title in the new stadium. Jeter, Rivera, and the last remnants of the dynasty-era Yankees opened the ballpark with a championship in 2009.
The Yankees subsequently went nearly 15 years without a pennant, only returning to the World Series last year. We’ll see how many pennants the team collects before reaching 100 million fans.
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